The Santorum family is on day five of Dad’s 18-day, 50-city tour across central Iowa leading up to the Ames straw poll. Santorum broke away from the family yesterday, however, to speak at the Western Conservative Summit in Denver. Who else spoke on the bill? Potential candidate and Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

After Perry said last week that he was “fine with” gay marriage at a state level, AP reports that “Santorum told about 1,000 people at the Western Conservative Summit Friday that New York ‘destroyed marriage’ and that states should not be permitted to allow gay unions.”

In an interview with The Des Moines Register, Santorum elaborated, saying he believed gay marriage to be an issue pushed by special interests, not the American people:

“You can’t have 50 different definitions of marriage. … It’s wrong and we should fight it in every state and we should try to pass a Federal law that makes sure that it is a uniform definition. … What’s happened is very powerful special interests and money are behind this movement, and the media is behind this movement and Hollywood is behind this movement, and it’s influencing the elite – the folks who are in the judicial branches and the branches of government. … I think this is an issue that needs to be settled collectively by the American public, not by a few group of elites who think it best to redesign the American culture.”

A Gallup poll in May reported that 53 percent of surveyed Americans believe same-sex marriage should be valid under law, a slight but first-time majority.